Rolling bearing

ABSTRACT

A rolling bearing such as a ball bearing has inner and outer imperforate races each of which is W-shaped in cross section so as to provide a pair of grooves on whose confronting faces the balls roll. The balls completely fill the races, and rubber sealing rings may be positioned in the radially outwardly opening grooves of the outer race and/or the radially inwardly opening grooves of the inner race and/or between the races adjacent their edges.

msman m an SHEET 1 OF 2 DOMEN/C'O C/wosso 55M 70 L55 0/0 INVENTORS BY177M ATTORNEYS United States Patent Inventors Domenico Camosso Turin;

Benito Lesclo, Rivoli, both of Italy Appl, No. 91,245 Filed Nov. 20,I970 Patented Dec. 21, 1971 Assignee RIV-SKF Officine di Villar PerosaS.p.A.

Turin, Italy ROLLING BEARING 12 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 308/188, I 308/187.2, 308/193, 308/216, 308/236 Int. Cl F164:33/58, F I 60 3 3/ 7 6 FieldoISearch 308/187.1,

187.2, 188, I90, I91, 192, 193, 196,216,236, 26; 29/148.4R

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,567,296 3/1971 Suchocki308/! 87.1 FOREIGN PATENTS 846,646 8/1952 Germany PrimaryExaminer-Martin P. Schwadron Assistant Examiner-Barry Grossman Attorney-Young & Thompson ABSTRACT: A rolling hearing such as a ballbearing hasinner and outer imperforate races each of which is W-shaped in crosssection so as to provide a pair of grooves on whose confronting facesthe balls roll. The halls completely till the races, and rubber sealingrings may be positioned in the radially outwardly opening grooves of theouter race and/or the radially inwardly opening grooves of the innerrace and/or between the races adjacent their edges.

ROLLING BEARING This invention relates to a ball bearing whose inner andouter races are made of sheet steel, and in particular to a bearing ofthis kind which enables to attain, during assembling, a correct bearingof said races both on the shaft and in the seat, and which is adapted tosupport high radial and axial loads in both directions with a low ratioof the axial to the radial play and arranged for being provided, in arapid and easy manner, with rings of rubber or other material, in orderto enable elastic mounting, axial anchorage, and a tight seal of saidbearmg.

Bearings with races of sheet steel are already known, wherein each raceis obtained by plastic deformation of a semifinished product of suitableshape. These bearings, if they are of the kind adapted to support axialloads, besides the radial loads, have one or both races comprised ofseparate parts, which are united to one another in various manners; whenthe races comprise a single piece of sheet steel, then the resultingbearing is adapted to support, besides the radial loads, also axialloads in one direction only. Moreover, all the bearings with races ofsheet steel have, in general, a limited capacity of radial and axialload, do not permit a very accurate mounting and, if intended forparticular applications requiring additional rubber members, thenappropriate machining of the races is necessary in order to enableassembling of such members. Finally, these bearings cannot be readilyprovided with lateral ring seals.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a ballbearing with races of sheet steel which enables to avoid thedisadvantages enumerated above.

The ball bearing with races of sheet steel made according to the presentinvention is characterized in that the steel plate of each race, on bothsides of the rolling groove for the balls, is deformed both radially onopposite sides with respect to the balls, so as to generate two annularspace substantially V- shaped in cross section, adapted to receiverubber rings, and axially, so as to generate two flat cylindrical zonesadjacent to each of said hollow spaces, whose outside diameter issubstantially equal to the outside diameter of said groove and adaptedto receive lateral ring seals.

The bearing in accordance with the present invention can be suitablymanufactured by the process described in the copending U.S. Pat.application 91,244 of the same applicant, filed under even date herewithand titled Method for the Manufacture of Rolling Bearings. For a betterunderstanding of the present invention, one particular embodimentthereof will now be described, merely by way of nonlimiting example,with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a vertical section of the ball bearing according to theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the bearing shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the bearing shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows a vertical section of a bearing of the kind of thatillustrated in FIG. I, on whose inner and outer race rubber members orrings have been mounted;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the bearing shown in FIG. 4, and

FIG. 6 is a vertical section of a bearing of the kind of that shown inFIG. 1, provided with lateral ring seals. With reference to FIGS. 1, 2,and 3, the bearing in accordance with the present invention comprises aninner race 1 and an outer race 2 of sheet steel, between which a crownof balls 3 is disposed. Each of the races 1 and 2 is W-shepd in crosssection (FIG. 1) so as to form, on each race, a groove 4 constitutingthe rolling track for the balls, as well as two annular spaces 5disposed symmetrically with respect to the groove 4 and two flat,ring-shaped end zones 6.

Each groove 4 is so shaped as to attain, with each ball 3, an abutmentat two points which are symmetrical relative to a plane at right anglesto the axis of the bearing passing through the center of the balls.Preferably, the groove 4 is defined by two portions or sections 7forming a certain angle with the axis of the bearing and merging withone another. Each annular space 5 is also defined by said portions 7 andby another pair of sections 8, which merge with the first-mentionedsections as well as with the ring-shaped end zones 6.

.Suitably, the bearing in accordance with the present invention. can bemanufactured with the process described in the patent application of thesame applicant mentioned above. According to this process, the bearingis obtained starting from a pair of tubular members originating theinner race I and the outer race 2 in the finished bearing; between thesetubular members the balls 3 are disposed in the initial stage ofW-shaped process. By exerting-for instance, by means of two rollerswhose profile corresponds to the final profile of the races 1 and2adequate radial pressures upon said annular members, directed towardsthe balls 3, it is possible to obtain, by rolling, the bearing shown inFIG. 1. During processing, the balls 3. are supported by suitable means,preferably by lateral rings, which permit revolution of said ballssubstantially about parallel axes, which are also parallel to the axisof the bearing and passing through the center of the balls 3. Therefore,the inner tubular member, which is entrained in rotation by one of saidrollers, will cause the balls 3 to rotate, and the latter will entrainin rotation the outer tubular member.

The bearing according to the present invention, shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and3, has a high capacity of load, both radial and axial, inasmuch as thenumber of the balls 3 can be very high, either if a spacer cage orretainer is provided or not, and because, as stated above, each ball isin contact with two points on each race, on the sections 7 of thegrooves 4.

Further, assembling of the bearing on the shaft and inside thecorresponding seat is highly accurate, because each race 1 and 2 willabut in correspondence with three annular zones, i.e., a central zone(incorrespondence with the merging area of the two sections 7 of thegroove 4), and two lateral or side areas (in correspondence with thering-shaped end zones 6), respectively.

In addition, the bearing according to the present invention is adaptedto be utilized, in a rapid and easy manner, for particular applications,for instance when it should be mounted with the intermediary of rings ormembers made of rubber or other material. As is well known, this kind ofas assembling enables a fairly good adaptability of the bearing withrespect to the shaft and the seat, as well as a good electricalinsulation between the shaft and the seat. To this end, it will besimply necessary to mount rubber members or rings 9 on the bearing, asshown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The annular hollow spaces 5, already present oneach race 1 and 2, permit an easy and rapid assembling of any kind ofring.

Finally, it will be possible to provide the bearing of the inventionwith lateral ring seals 10, as shown in FIG. 6. In fact, the flat,ring-shaped end zones 6, besides defining two cylindrical side zones ofreduced width (which permit, as already stated, to mount the bearing onthe shaft and in the corresponding seat in a highly accurate manner)have the function of stably holding the lateral ring seals 10 inposition. The constructional arrangement illustrated in FIG. 6 issuitable when it is desired to prevent foreign matter from entering thespace comprised between the two races in which the balls 3 revolve, orto prevent the lubricant from coming out from said space.

It will be apparent that many modifications and variations can beintroduced in the embodiment of the present invention described above,concerning both the shape and the arrangement of the various parts andcomponents, without departing from the scope of the invention.

I-Iaving described our invention, we claim:

1. A rolling bearing having inner and outer races of sheet steel, theouter race having a pair of axially spaced radially outwardly openinggrooves therein and the inner race having a pair of axially spacedradially inwardly opening grooves therein, and a plurality of rollingbearing elements disposed between said races and between said grooves ofeach race.

I 2. A bearing as claimed in claim I, each said element being in contactwith said groove at spaced points on said element.

3. A bearing as claimed in claim I, each said race having a W-shapedcross section.

4. A bearing as claimed in claim 1, each said groove being V-shaped incross section.

5. A hearing as claimed in claim 1, the: opposite edges of said racesbeing cylindrical.

6. A hearing as claimed in claim 1, and annular elastic deformablesealing means disposed in said radially inwardly opening grooves of saidinner race.

7. A bearing as claimed in claim 1, and annular elastic deformablesealing means disposed in said radially outwardly opening grooves ofsaid outer race.

8. A hearing as claimed in claim 1, and annular elastic deformablesealing means disposed in said radially inwardly opening grooves of saidinner race and in said radially outl l I l l

1. A rolling bearing having inner and outer races of sheet steel, theouter race having a pair of axially spaced radially outwardly openinggrooves therein and the inner race having a pair of axially spacedradially inwardly opening grooves therein, and a plurality of rollingbearing elements disposed between said races and between said grooves ofeach race.
 2. A bearing as claimed in claim 1, each said element beingin contact with said groove at spaced points on said element.
 3. Abearing as claimed in claim 1, each said race having a W-shaped crosssection.
 4. A bearing as claimed in claim 1, each said groove beingV-shaped in cross section.
 5. A bearing as claimed in claim 1, theopposite edges of said races being cylindrical.
 6. A bearing as claimedin claim 1, and annular elastic deformable sealing means disposed insaid radially inwardly opening grooves of said inner race.
 7. A bearingas claimed in claim 1, and annular elastic deformable sealing meansdisposed in said radially outwardly opening grooves of said outer race.8. A bearing as claimed in claim 1, and annular elastic deformablesealing means disposed in said radially inwardly opening grooves of saidinner race and in said radially outwardly opening grooves of said outerrace.
 9. A bearing as claimed in claim 1, and annular elastic deformablesealing means disposed between the edges of said inner and outer races.10. A bearing as claimed in claim 9, said edges being cylindrical.
 11. Abearing as claimed in claim 1, said element being balls.
 12. A bearingas claimed in claim 1, said elements being in contact with each othersubstantially entirely about the bearing.